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Public holidays

Information

There are 9 public holidays in Ireland each year. Public holidays may
commemorate a special day or other event, for example, St Patrick's Day (17
March) or Christmas Day (25 December). On a public holiday, sometimes called a
bank holiday, most businesses and schools close. Other services, for
example, public transport still operate but often with restricted schedules.
The list of public holidays each year is as follows:

New Year's Day (1 January)

St. Patrick's Day (17 March)

Easter Monday

First Monday in May, June, August

Last Monday in October

Christmas Day (25 December)

St. Stephen's Day (26 December)

Good Friday is not a public holiday. While some schools and
businesses close on that day, you have no automatic entitlement to time off
work on that day.

How is the date of Easter Monday determined each year?

Easter Monday is the only public holiday that can vary significantly from
year to year. The date of Easter moves every year within the international
calendar for civil use. Broadly speaking, Easter should be the first Sunday
after the first full moon occurring on or after 21 March. This means that the
earliest possible date for Easter Sunday in any year is 22 March, the latest is
25 April. Easter Monday will fall on the following dates between 2015 and 2018:
6 April 2015, 28 March 2016, 17 April 2017, 2 April 2018.

Rules

Your entitlement to public holidays is set out in the Organisation
of Working Time Act 1997. Most employees are entitled to paid leave on
public holidays. One exception is part-time employees who have not worked for
their employer at least 40 hours in total in the 5 weeks before the public
holiday.

Employees who qualify for public holiday benefit will be entitled to one of
the following:

A paid day off on the public holiday

An additional day of annual leave

An additional day's pay

A paid day off within a month of the public holiday

The Organisation of Working Time Act provides that you may ask your employer
at least 21 days before a public holiday, which of the alternatives will apply.
If your employer fails to respond at least 14 days before the public holiday,
you are entitled to take the actual public holiday as a paid day off.

Part-time employees

If you have worked for your employer at least 40 hours in the 5 weeks before
the public holiday and the public holiday falls on a day you normally work you
are entitled to a day's pay for the public holiday. If you are required to work
that day you are entitled to an additional day's pay.

If you do not normally work on that particular day you should receive
one-fifth of your weekly pay. Even if you may never be rostered to work on a
public holiday you are entitled to one-fifth of your weekly pay as compensation
for the public holiday.

If you do not have normal daily or weekly working hours, under SI 475/1997, an
average of your day’s pay or the fifth of your weekly pay is calculated over
the 13 weeks you worked before the public holiday.

In all of the above situations your employer may choose to give you paid
time off instead of pay for the public holiday.

Sick leave on a public holiday

If you are a full time worker on sick
leave during a public holiday, you are entitled to benefit for the public
holiday you missed, as described above. If you are a part-time worker on sick
leave during a public holiday, you would be entitled to benefit for the public
holiday, provided you had worked for your employer for at least 40 hours in the
previous five-week period - see 'Part-time employees' above.

You are not entitled to the public holiday if you are absent from work
immediately before the public holiday, and you have been off work for more than
26 weeks due to an ordinary illness or accident, or for more than 52 weeks due
to an occupational accident.

Losing your job

If your employment finishes during the week ending on the day before a
public holiday and you have worked for your employer for the previous 4 weeks,
you should receive an additional day's pay for the public holiday. This also
applies to part-time employees who have established a right to the public
holiday by working at least 40 hours in the previous 5 weeks. You can read more
about this in Further
information below.

Public holidays falling on a weekend

Where a public holiday falls on a weekend, you do not have any automatic
legal entitlement to have the next working day off work. This occurred in 2013
when St Patrick's Day (17 March) fell on a Sunday. This meant that Monday 18
March 2013 was not a public holiday. Your employer can require you to attend
work on those days. When this happens you are entitled to one of the following:

A paid day off within a month of the public holiday

An additional day of annual leave

An additional day's pay

How to apply

If you are not getting your public holiday entitlement you may make a
complaint under the Organisation of Working Time Act within 6 months of the
dispute or complaint occurring. You must use the new online complaint form
(available by selecting ‘Make a complaint in relation to employment rights’
on workplacerelations.ie).
The time limit may be extended for up to a further 6 months, but only where
there are exceptional circumstances which prevented the complaint being brought
within the normal time limit.

Workplace Relations Customer Services

Further information

Termination of employment and public holidays

In the case of Gazboro Ltd.
-v- BATU (DWT9916) the claimants ceased to be employed on 18 December 1998.
They claimed an entitlement to be paid in respect of 25 and 26 December. As the
Court interpreted the wording of Section
23(2)(a) of the Organisation of Working Time Act 1997, the week ending at
midnight on 24 December began at midnight on 18 December. Since the claimants
worked for the employer during the 4 weeks preceding that week they were
entitled to an additional day's pay in respect of 25 December. The week ending
on 25 December began at midnight on 19 December. Since the claimants ceased to
be employed on 18 December they had no entitlement under the Act in respect of
26 December.

Language

Useful Resources

Related Documents

Annual leaveEmployment law gives employees various entitlements to leave from work ranging from holidays to parental leave. Find out how your leave is calculated.

Maternity leaveAll female employees are entitled to maternity leave from work immediately before and after the birth of their child. Find out more.

Adoptive leavePeople who adopt children may be entitled to leave from employment. This leave is called adoptive leave. Find out what this means and how to apply.

Contact Us

If you have a question relating to this topic you can contact the Citizens Information Phone Service on 0761 07 4000 (Monday to Friday, 9am to 8pm) or you can visit your local Citizens Information Centre.